It was a historic moment for Teagasc education on Wednesday as the first-ever cohort of students to complete the land-based apprenticeships graduated at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly.

After two-years of earning while learning, 47 apprentices achieved higher certificates in the land-based programmes. Of these, nine completed the technical farm operations (Level 6), seven completed the sustainable farm management (Level 7), nine completed the horticulture (Level 6), and 22 graduated in sportsturf management (Level 6).

Speaking at the graduation, Dr Stan Lalor, director of knowledge transfer, acknowledged the importance of this learning model.

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“Today is a fantastic day for Teagasc and all the partners who have worked with us on the development of these apprenticeships. The new programmes that we've set up have re-established apprenticeships as a really important and valuable way for people to upskill in a very earn while you learn environment,” he said.

"The fact that you're in employment means the employer is very much bought into your development as well. All of that comes together to make it a very unique and valuable additional offering. Now with the graduates coming through, we can see the fruition of that as being established and up and running”.